Thursday until Now

We are safe at home now with our daughter and sons, and Grace is adjusting. It is a process for sure, and at times it is a hard one. I am SO proud of my boys for loving Grace even when she is so angry at them for looking at her, or touching her. We would appreciate prayer once again that she would be healed and the boys would persevere. We all get glimpses of her now and then and for that we are so thankful. She only slept until 2:00am yesterday and it is 4:30am today and she is still asleep. That is huge! I on the other hand have been up since 3:00. Everything from my jaws down to my knee hurts from carrying her, but I am thankful that I haven't felt too tired or grumpy.

I want to catch the blog up from where I left off. On Thursday, our last day in Guangzhou we decided to take a cab with our friends to the Safari Park. We were pretty apprehensive about going for several reasons, but I am SO thankful we did. It was the most amazing zoo I've ever seen, and it really helped Grace come alive even more. The cab ride back was harrowing, and I prayed silently several times that we would make it home. We said goodbye to the other families and the shop owners who we had become friends with and left for the airport at 7:00. There were elements of China that I was happy to be leaving, and I was dying to get home to the boys, but it was also sad. Overall we loved China, it was a hard but amazing trip, and it is Grace's home. I was really sad leaving the other kids in our group, not knowing when or if I'd see that again. It was also hard for me to remove her from her culture, and language and bring her to a place where she is now a minority. I am glad we did it, and I know God has a plan for her, but I really did feel a little like a kidnapper sometimes during the trip.

The plane ride home was something I wouldn't care to relive. :) We did have a wonderful family with four kids (two from China) in front of us, and I found out that they homeschool too. There were a huge selection of seat back movies for people to chose from the entire flight, so hopefully not too many people were ticked at the toddler who was screaming and laughing and throwing food for most of the trip. I think we made at least 15 trips to the lovely toilets, which were an improvement over the hole-in-the ground potties in China. :) Paul's dad and Sherry were there to pick us up at the airport, and drive us to our house. Grace was so tired and sad, and did not like sitting in a car seat for the first time ever and cried for about 10 minutes for me to hold her, and then fell asleep for the rest of the trip. We were SO excited to see the boys and they were happy to see us. My parents had been staying with them at our house for the week. We had a wonderful welcome home party with our immediate family, minus my two sisters and their families and my neice and nephew- who all I missed. The boys had made a welcome home poster with our good friends the, and we came home to food, toys, flowers and balloons. Grace was pretty shut down and nervous but by the end of the night my sister-in-law, who really has a way with kids, had her laughing and playing. She even let other people hold her a little. We want to get her used to the boys before we take her to any large group activities that might put her back, but small groups of visitors to our home are fine. I plan to keep up the blog, but I have never been very good at that.

I want to say thank you again to everyone who has prayed for us and helped us on the trip. I honestly didn't know what people would think about us adopting #5, but the reception has been nothing but wonderful. It has been such a humbling blessing to be carried by our family and friends. And I must acknowledge again our beautiful Savior, who adopted us while we were in rebellion to Him and made us heirs to His Kingdom. He constantly amazes me with His faithfulness.